When We're Thirty

by Casey Dembowski

  “Right.” As if remembering she was there, Will drew her close. “This is Hannah. Hannah, as you’ve probably already figured out, these are Madison’s parents.”

  Madison’s name seemed to catch in his throat. She shook off the weird feeling. Tonight night couldn’t be easy for Will. Everything that happened with his ex had happened right there, at another party, probably with a similar guest list. People loved gossip, and William Thorne getting married suddenly was definitely a commodity in this circle.

  “It’s so nice to meet you!” Hannah said. “Madison has made the transition to becoming a Thorne so easy for me.”

  Mrs. Hart looked from Hannah to Will, confusion clouding her expression before her smile softened. “I’m glad to hear that. William”—she pulled Will into a hug—“we’re so happy for you.”

  Will backed away from Mrs. Hart as soon as was polite. “Thank you. Have a safe trip.”

  With the Harts out of sight, Hannah followed Will further into the party.

  Will let out a heavy breath as they broke into the main hallway. She squeezed his hand. “Madison’s parents seem nice. I didn’t realize you knew them.”

  “They’re around often enough,” Will said, his eyes on the guests. “I was just surprised to see them. They weren’t on Jonathan’s guest list.”

  “You saw the guest list?”

  Will stopped walking and turned to her. He ran a hand through his hair, and worry lines creased his forehead. “Yeah.” He glanced to his right and stealthily pointed at an older gentleman in a well-fitted suit. “I wanted to know who to warn you about. Like Mr. Johnson over there. He’s touchy-feely, so stand at least an arm’s length away.”

  Will cast another look around the room. “And this guy here”—he pointed to a well-dressed man who looked so much like Daniel he must’ve been a Thorne—“is bad news.”

  “Ah, my free-spirited nephew.” The man pulled Will into a bear hug. “Didn’t think I’d see you in one of these penguin suits so soon.”

  Will grinned. “Hannah, this is my uncle, Grayson, CEO of Wellington Thorne and perpetual thorn in my father’s side. Pun fully intended.”

  “I bet Jon says the same about you,” Grayson said, giving Will what could only be called a meaningful look.

  Will returned it with a wan smile. “I’m sure he does.” Hannah knew she was missing something, but there wasn’t time to consider it before Will held out his hands, putting her on display. “This is Hannah.”

  Hannah extended her hand, but Grayson hugged her. “Welcome to the Thorne circus.”

  She laughed and continued to watch Grayson and Will interact. Will and Jonathan, and to some extent Jon and Daniel, were so cold with each other. But Grayson was loud and boisterous and happy. He reminded Hannah of Will when his family wasn’t around. This was the man who had fought to save Will’s career and who had clearly had an influence on Will over the years. The thought that someone was in Will’s corner calmed a worry Hannah hadn’t even consciously known she’d had. With everything going on with her parents, she’d still had Kate and Stephanie and Riley, and even Madison. But Will seemed alone so much of the time.

  She scanned the room again. Their friends and family—Kate and Patrick, Eddie, Stephanie and Charlotte, Madison and Jon, and Daniel—stood in a cluster in the den. Her parents weren’t there. They’d RSVP’d no—Hannah had seen the card herself—but she’d expected them to change their minds. Maybe they had. It was still early, and traffic getting into New York was probably a bitch right then. They would come. They couldn’t miss the closest thing she would have to a wedding reception.

  “Our guests of honor, there you are.” Hannah turned at the sound of Jonathan’s voice, so formal compared to Grayson’s. What had caused these men to go in such different directions?

  Will straightened at his father’s approach and linked his hand with Hannah’s. “Hi, Dad.”

  “Can I steal you two away? I’d like to introduce you to a few people from the board.”

  Will nodded like it was a death sentence. But it couldn’t be that bad. She didn’t believe for a second that Jonathan was sanctioning their marriage. She hadn’t come close to forgiving him, but for Will’s sake, and for the sake of his future at Wellington Thorne, she would spend a few minutes schmoozing with Jonathan’s peers.

  “COME WITH ME.” WILL tugged at her hand, and after excusing herself from the most boring conversation she’d ever had with the touchy-feely Mr. Johnson, Hannah let Will lead her through the party. He took her past the den and into a hallway with a series of rooms. She knew the first one on the left was Jon and Madison’s. The sounds of the party were muffled there, even so close to the den. Will pulled her into one of the rooms, flipping on the light as he did so.

  “Sorry, I just needed to do this.” He kissed her hard, his arms drawing her to him. They fell back against the closed door, Will’s lips never breaking from hers.

  She pushed his jacket off and untucked his shirt. Slipping out of her shoes, she wrapped a leg around him, feeling the intensity of this moment through her whole body.

  Will trailed kisses down her neck and into her cleavage, sending waves of excitement rushing through her body. She undid his belt and then the button on his pants, weaving her hand into the waistband of his boxers. He gasped as her hand slid down his perfectly sculpted hip bones.

  “Knock, knock, lovebirds. I know you’re in there.”

  Hannah and Will broke apart at the sound of Kate’s voice and the repeated knocking on the door. Kate jiggled the handle, but Hannah knew she wouldn’t come in. Kate and Hannah had been roommates for long enough to know exactly what was going on behind the door. Hannah giggled as Will straightened his clothing, giving the door the evil eye.

  “Come back later?” Hannah asked, stepping back into her shoes.

  “If you don’t come with me now, Randy will be the next person to knock on this door,” Kate said. Hannah could hear her tapping her foot impatiently. “Your guests are waiting for cake.”

  “One second,” Will said, his voice resigned.

  “Do I look okay?” Hannah asked, smoothing out her dress. Will’s clothing suffered most of the damage. Her dress was pretty unflappable, but she had a hard-enough time getting her hair to stay in an updo when she wasn’t making out against doors.

  Will tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek. “You look beautiful, Hannah.”

  Her insides stirred at the soft inflection on her name. She inclined her head into his hand for the briefest of moments before linking their hands. “Let’s go cut our cake, husband.”

  Chapter 30

  Hannah

  “Can you straighten it a bit?” Madison asked.

  They sat next to each other on one of the lounge ottomans in the former study. There was a lot of dancing after the cake cutting, but the energy keeping Hannah from noticing the ache in every part of her body, especially in her knee, had dissipated.

  Hannah extended her leg and felt Madison’s hands come up under her dress and settle on her knee. That was all Jonathan and his guests needed to see—Jon’s fiancée feeling up Will’s wife.

  “It’s not swollen,” Madison said. “We’ll work it out in the morning if it still hurts, okay?”

  She nodded and leaned her head against Madison’s shoulder. “Thanks.”

  The number of guests had dwindled exceedingly, but more than enough socialites were mixed among their family and friends. Eddie stood near the fireplace with a small crowd, most likely telling the story of Will and Hannah’s wedding day by the way Kate kept interjecting. Stephanie and Charlotte were in the dining room, tangled in each other’s arms, swaying to the ballad that played lightly over an unseen speaker system. No one else danced, but Charlanie didn’t seem to care.

  Madison nudged Hannah and pointed to a spot across the room. Hannah followed her finger and smiled. Jon, Will, and Daniel were laughing and toasting with another shot.

  “Great, he’ll be
snoring tonight,” Hannah said, despite knowing her cheeks were flush from her second glass of wine.

  “The boys can share a room,” Madison said. “We’ll steal Kate and Charlanie and have a girls’ night with pillow fights, wine, rom-coms, and whatever you want.”

  “That’s called a bachelorette party.”

  “Not like we had the chance to give you one.”

  “Ouch. You’re a mean drunk.”

  “Sorry,” Madison said with a shrug.

  Grayson and his wife, Maggie, walked by, their teenage son beside them. Hannah watched them until they rounded a corner and were out of sight.

  Madison wrapped an arm around Hannah’s back. “I’m sorry your parents didn’t come.”

  “It is what it is,” Hannah said, packing false confidence behind her words. She couldn’t get weepy in the middle of her own party.

  “That’s big of you,” Madison said. “I would’ve dragged my parents here kicking and screaming.”

  Hannah was sure she would’ve. Not that she would’ve needed to. Her parents had come to support their future son-in-law’s brother when they’d had other plans. But that was never Hannah’s relationship with her parents. The spontaneity they’d lauded in Stephanie, they condemned in Hannah. On some level, she understood that she’d taken something from them by not including them in the wedding, but it didn’t warrant this.

  And what if she and Will lasted? Will was the one person, even more so than Kate in some ways, that just got her. There was no pretense or hesitation with him. He was her person—the one who could come back after five years and fit naturally into her life. What if her person was also her true love? Her parents would never be able to take back their snub.

  “I’m choosing to look at the people we do have here,” Hannah said, scanning the room again for her friends. Jon and Will weaved through the crowd, leaving a frazzled but polite-looking Daniel chatting with a young woman and her father, Jonathan standing close by.

  She waved Kate, Patrick, and Eddie over and shot a text to Stephanie, who was still completely lost in her wife. She didn’t want to directly disturb them. It wasn’t often they had a kid-free night.

  “Dad’s trying to sell Daniel to the highest bidder,” Jon said, wrapping his arms around Madison’s waist.

  “It’s a Thorne rite of passage,” Will said, tugging Hannah close to him. Her body lit up at the touch, remembering their hidden moment earlier and the way Will had looked at her when he told her she was beautiful. She kissed him, noting the faint smell of whisky permeating his skin.

  Kate and Patrick joined the group, hand in hand. It was still weird for Hannah to see Kate with a boyfriend. She hadn’t been serious about anyone in so long, but even though it had only been two months, she was clearly into Patrick. There was a recent calmness to Kate that Hannah recognized in herself since Will. Bitching about Boyfriends was about to get super boring.

  “So, where’s the afterparty?” Kate asked.

  Hannah laughed, but Will and Jon put their heads together and started whispering about rooms.

  “I’ll get the booze,” Jon said, heading over to the bar.

  “I’ll get the rest of our guests.” Madison scooted away to round up Charlanie, Eddie, and Daniel.

  Will fell into an elegant bow. “And if you’ll follow me...”

  Hannah looked around the group again, her heart overflowing with love. If this was who she and Will had in their corner, it would be more than enough.

  “COME ON,” WILL WHISPERED, grabbing her hand.

  Hannah glanced around at their group of friends sharing stories and playing some weird drinking game—they were all but oblivious to the two of them. “Will they notice?”

  “Do you care?” he asked, his eyes gleaming.

  She lifted the ice pack off her knee and followed him out of the room, through the silent house and the remnants of their party until they reached Will’s bedroom. Tension swirled between them—the air sparked with it.

  He tugged the door shut and turned the lock before leaning her back against the hard wood. “Where were we?”

  She smirked and pulled him into her. “Right about here.”

  The moment their lips met, the playful nature of their banter shifted intensity. Their tongues danced to a new and powerful tune. Her hands undid the buttons of his shirt and pushed it off. She ran her fingers down his chest and unbuttoned his pants. He kicked out of his shoes and unzipped her dress, his fingers tracing her spine with each inch. His lips never left hers, except to nip at her ear, suck at the most sensitive part of her neck, or leave a trail of kisses down her collarbone. Hannah arced against him as his hand slipped under her bodice and cupped her breast.

  “Will,” she said with a moan, pushing his pants down.

  He picked her up and out of her dress. She wrapped her legs around him, feeling his hardness against her softest places. Another moan escaped her as they fell back onto the bed. Will’s eyes were wide as he lay beneath her. She leaned down and kissed him again, her hair falling free of its pins. His fingers tangled in her hair, and he unhooked her bra with his free hand, his mouth finding her nipple.

  It was finally their moment. She could feel it in every touch and every kiss. There would be no stopping them tonight. Kate could knock, the earth could quake, and they’d stay here in this bed. And it felt so right. It wasn’t clumsy or uncertain. It was every minute of every hour of every day since he’d knelt before her with that diamond ring. The pact hadn’t been a mistake. It had been foreplay.

  With soft hands, Will removed the rest of their clothing and flipped Hannah over so that she lay beneath him. His hand skimmed up her leg as she brought it around his hips. Their eyes met, and she pulled him down until every part touched. Yes, she said with her eyes and her hands and her tongue. Yes.

  He didn’t hesitate, and her world exploded as their bodies came together. How had she ever worried this would ruin everything? They were a perfect fit, as Will had said all those weeks before. She tugged him closer, breathing the same breath as their bodies moved as one.

  Chapter 31

  Hannah

  “Hi, Mom and Dad. It’s me, your daughter. Hannah, remember? You know, you’re going to have to answer the phone one day.”

  Hannah slammed the phone back into its cradle. She’d been convinced if she called from her office phone that one of her parents would pick up. She knew they were home. It was Stephanie and Charlotte’s wedding anniversary, and her parents were babysitting the boys. It had been nearly two weeks since the party—three since the awful scene at their house—and her parents remained silent.

  “Everything okay over here?”

  Hannah made her expression neutral before looking up at Dave. He was the last person she wanted to see right now. She’d spent the last few weeks trying to get him to hand over coverage of the Wilderness Weekend concert, but he hadn’t budged. There wasn’t even a Leonard Nulty interview accompanying the piece. It was concert coverage only. Anyone else would’ve handed the show to Hannah by now.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “What’s up?”

  He held up a pair of tickets. “I have a peace offering of sorts.”

  Hannah reached for the tickets. Wilderness Weekend. No way.

  “I’m not giving up coverage, but my sister-in-law, or soon-to-be, anyway, won these from a radio show,” he said. “She didn’t know I was covering the show, and she was so excited to give them to me that I couldn’t tell her that I was already going. I’ve heard you cursing at StubHub for the last week about ticket prices, so I thought—”

  “Seriously?” If it hadn’t been Dave, she might have hugged him. As it was, she just turned her brightest smile on him.

  “I mean, you owe me one, but yeah, they’re yours if you want them.”

  She’d owe Dave seven if it meant these tickets were hers for free. “Yes, please.

  Thank you!”

  The moment Dave was gone, she picked up her phone. Will answered on the t
hird ring. “I’m about to go into a meeting.”

  “You didn’t get Wilderness tickets yet, did you?”

  “No,” he said, sounding deflated. “I can’t find a pair within the negligible budget you set.”

  “Well, I got us tickets!”

  Will laughed. “Of course you did. Listen, I have to go, but explain over dinner?”

  “Sure, I’ll pick up Thai on my way home from PT.”

  She tucked the tickets into her wallet. These were going right in the My plans are better than yours clip she’d made sure found its way onto Will’s refrigerator when she moved in. Slipping on her coat, Hannah typed out a quick email to Riley requesting concert night off. It was a month away, but Hannah wasn’t taking any chances.

  STRETCH FOR THREE. Hold for three. Extend. Retract. Hannah had forgotten how tedious physical therapy could be. The itch to run returned with each session the further her knee got to full extension. But Madison had been very clear. No running—not yet. Hannah heeded this advice only because whatever Madison’s plan was, it was working. Her knee felt better than it had in years.

  “I brought you something,” Hannah said, leaning back on her hands.

  The studio was empty. The last client had checked out twenty minutes ago, and technically, it was after closing. But this was their time slot. Madison liked the privacy. She was more herself. The few times another therapist had scheduled a late client, Madison had been stiff and formal. This version of her—sprawled out on a mat, legs propped up on a foam roller, an incredibly tight TheraBand stretched between her hands—made the aches and pains bearable.

  “Oh?” Madison rubbed her hands together. “I like presents.”

  “I know.” Hannah handed over a pink cardboard box. The tiniest bit of frosting stuck to the clear plastic, but it had otherwise survived the walk.